


Saving Lost Souls

by GC4life



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Good path, Hurt/Comfort, Judy the plant, Multi, Or... they will, Rhys needs a hug, everybody loves Rhys, traumatized Rhys, traumatized everyone really
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-16
Updated: 2018-04-16
Packaged: 2019-04-23 14:02:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14333997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GC4life/pseuds/GC4life
Summary: In which Rhys is an adorkable idiot and everyone comes to love him in the end but he "...came out with some scars too..." and having Jack in his head did him no favors. Or where Rhys loves his friends and doesn't love himself, but that's what friends are for. Commence the friendship. T for language. Pairings undecided.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So the first time I played this game I fell to my guilty moral conscience and played it as a good guy all the way through and I really, really like Rhys. Well, I like all of the characters, but he's absolutely adorkable and I really wish they had gone into more of what went on with him after the whole Jack thing. I mean, how the hell did he get that new eye in there? Did you SEE how much wiring was in his head?! Or Vaughn in leading a whole group of Helios newbies into bandit-hood, or what the hell happened with Fiona, Sasha, and August (I seriously doubt they left him in the caravan to bleed out). On the flip side of terrible, I thought Jack could have been way more manipulative at the end. Like, a lot more. He's an asshole (even if I still really like him). So here this is. My attempts at fulfilling my internal ideas. And don't be fooled, I adore Rhys and all I want is for him to be happy, but I'm also a writer and writers have this weird urge to make characters go through even more shit. So yeah, lots of angst on his side.
> 
> This chapter is just my take on how the final interaction with Jack could have gone. Next chapter is about August.

"You're not seeing a pattern here?" Rhys asked Jack, surrounded by burning fire and twisted metal. His entire body had been sore and his mind had kept drifting to that painful goodbye as one of his most trusted allies saved him at the cost of their life. Robot or not, Loader Bot was more human than most people he had ever met.

Jack stared at him for a good long minute before bursting into hysteric, bitter laughter. "Uh, kettle?!" he shouted, his voice glitching in and out. "Hate to break it to you cupcake, but that whole 'you and I are the same speech'? You're the one saying it."

"What?" Rhys deadpanned, not understanding.

"U-uh, are you seeing a pattern here?" Jack mimicked mockingly, grin manic. "Ha! Take a look in the mirror pal, cause you're not doing so great yourself. A big ole death count isn't the only thing we share Rhysie, betrayal is probably at the top of the list!"

The words gave him a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, making him fold his arms across his chest as though to ward them off. "Yeah right," he spat out. "I still have my friends, Jack."

Jack's face was recreating and deconstructing itself at a rapid rate, but that did nothing to hide the malicious grin stretching his lips. "Oh, you mean those two con-artists that abandoned you on Helios? Or your old work buddies who _both_ made deals behind your back?" Jack laughed again before his voice picked up an octave. "Oh, I only did it to keep Assquez off our backs, Rhys! He promised not to kill you! Yeah right. Why didn't little iron abs say anything, huh? If that was really the only reason, why'd he wait until there was a gun to his head to fess up? And your requisitions gal? Did you _see_ her face when she opened up that tub of Wallethead bits? She knew he'd kill you, that's what Hyperion is all about baby! Oh sure, she might have actually asked him to keep you alive, but that was just another angle I'm sure. I mean, honestly, she seemed waaay smarter than you Rhysie, and would _you_ trust Wallethead to keep any of your friends alive? Nah, nah, she just wanted the big promotion. Vasquez would go off Helios to find you, leaving his office open and when you came back in a body bag all she would have to do was turn on the only other guy involved and all the accolades go to her! It's brilliant; she's a great employee. I'm actually pretty impressed."

Rhys couldn't believe that. Refused to. "So-," his voice cracked, and he had to clear it to try again. The pathetic noise had at least been enough to catch Jack's attention. "So what?" he straightened his back. "Helios was the breeding grounds for selfish bull crap. They only did what they were raised to do! And they proved themselves after that! A-and Fiona and Sasha, well, who knows what happened there? August and his goons could have knocked them out or-"

"Oh the denial is strong in this one!" Jack crowed, overjoyed at the nervous mess in front of him. "If that was true then why didn't _you_ turn on _them_ , huh? You grew up in the same pit amigo, and yet you decided to prance the path of friendship instead!"

"They were worth more than-" Rhys attempted to argue, but Jack only laughed harder.

"And there it is folks! They were worth it, were they? Then what does that make you? See, that's the thing Rhys," Jack's voice grew soft suddenly, his voice somber. "People you see as worth it? They don't see the same in you. And why should they? Look around you Rhys. This? This is all on you."

Rhys couldn't help himself. He scanned the destruction around him. This used to be his home. He could see a charred hand sticking out of a hole in the metal, and burning scraps of clothes littering the area. So many people had died when Helios crashed.

"And yeah, okay, I might've pushed you towards this _at the end_ but all this happened because of _your_ choices. You're the one that decided to make the vault key deal, you're the one that plugged me into your stupid little head, you're the one that trusted your _friends_ and got your best bud shot by a toxic paralysis thing, and you're the one that told the little idiot to run. You think he's still alive after that? Alone on fucking Pandora without a gun or any supplies at all? I'd be surprised if he lived long enough to see Helios crash and burn!"

Rhys couldn't breathe. His lungs were full of ash and his regular eye was watering so badly he could barely see out of it. "I-I, y-you can't-"

"I can't do shit," Jack interrupted again, face morphing into a horrifying scowl before glitching back into his victorious grin. "All I can do is talk, that's been the only thing I could do for a long, long time. Which means all the _actions_ were you and every action you chose got someone killed. Or a lot of someones. Face it kiddo, it's no surprise they all left you for dead. It was either that or wait till one of your brilliant plans got them killed instead."

"I'm not like you!" Rhys shouted, his fists clenched. "I'm not going to let you get in my head and screw around with me Jack! Not again!"

Jack's voice was low and triumphant. "Little too late for that pal."

A sharp pain in the side of his head made Rhys gasp and jump back. His face paled at the sight of the drive from Jack's chair hanging in the air. His ECHO eye flashed a download screen.

"No," he breathed, flinging himself back.

A blue light appeared out of the corner of his eye and when he whipped his head around Jack was already stalking towards him with one arm raised.

"You THINK you can take me out?!" Jack started, one arm rising in synch with Rhys' cybernetic arm. He fought for control but Jack's will was too strong. "You little shit!"

Rhys let out a sharp gasp as his own arm came up to clamp around his neck. He was just able to keep the steel fingers from immediately breaking the bone, but they were still tight enough to cut off his air and Jack was growing stronger with rage.

"You ready for this Rhys?" Jack whispered dangerously, hovering above him. "Are you ready for this?!"

"You're…not…winning…this time!" Rhys chocked out, flesh hand scrambling at the metal.

"No," Jack agreed with a deranged smile. "This'll be more of a tie, but it'll be soo worth it to watch you die."

Rhys stumbled back as Jack continued to talk. He couldn't focus on the words, the lack of air making his vision and hearing fuzzy. As he stumbled he was able to look behind him and catch a glimpse of a sharp metal pole sticking out of the rubble. If he kept stumbling back he would impale himself, but if he moved just enough to the left…

Jack tightened his grip and Rhys threw himself backward with as much force as he could. The pole, sharpened and flaring with heat, cut through his arm like butter. Jack barely even flinched, the grip not slackening even an inch.

"This is leadership, you little fraud!" Jack roared. "This is being a hero!"

As the pole twisted under his movements and further destroyed some of the circuitry in his arm Rhys managed to pry the fingers from his throat and lean back enough to free himself. Jack wasn't willing to let him go so easily, and Rhys' arm began to struggle towards him once more. Desperate fear flooded Rhys' mind and he reached out, almost unthinkingly, to tear off the plate protecting the main wiring connections. Once that was out of the way he went through each wire, violently tearing it out even with the searing pain the nerve regulators sent to his brain.

Once the wires were thin enough, Rhys sent all of his weight back and away from his arm. He could feel the wires inside of his body being yanked out, and _god_ did it _hurt_ , but Jack was still going and he had to as well if he wanted to survive.

With one final yank, and a worrying spurt of blood, he forced his arm to disconnect completely with his body, the force of the movement sending him to the ground. Once his brain was able to work past the pain and the realization of 'holyshitIjustrippedmyarmoutohmygod' it realized he could breathe again and he began to cough. His ECHO eye was going haywire, all the damage he had sustained and was still sustaining (and probably something to do with Jack of course) was causing it to blink in and out of focus. Something warm was soaking into his shirt, and he was pretty sure his arm port was bleeding. Like, a lot.

"Congratulations kiddo, you get to live another day," Jack's disembodied voice sounded from all around him. He blinked and suddenly the blue hologram was right in front of his face, looking down on him. "But what about tomorrow? Or the next day?"

Rhys scrambled for something to defend himself with. When his remaining hand touched on a shard of glass he curled his fingers around it so tightly it left thin cuts over his palm and fingers. Jack didn't even look amused as Rhys swung the poor excuse of a weapon at him, then _through_ him.

"I'm not going anywhere. As long as you've got those cybernetics in you, I'm not going anywhere," Jack gave an exhausted chuckle. Turning his back to Rhys he put his hands on his hips and turned to survey his beloved Helios. "I'll just be sitting here, waiting for my chance to take you out."

_'My cybernetics,'_ Rhys thought dazedly. He shook his head to clear it, his gaze landing on his limp arm hanging from the metal just a few feet from him. Jack began yet another tirade on how he could wait days, months, years for Rhys to slip up so he could take control again. Rhys didn't want that to happen. He couldn't allow that to happen. As he began to slowly push himself up into a sitting position, a terrible idea began to hatch in his head.

"Perhaps while you're sleeping," Jack continued, completely unaware. "While you're getting laid. Who knows, maybe I'll do the long wait and watch you wither away with age."

Jack froze, looking at his body as it fizzled out for just a moment. He whipped around to see Rhys _cutting_ the port in the side of his head out with the piece of glass.

"Wait,wait,wait,wait…w-what are you doing? Rhys what the- what the hell are you doing?!"

With the tips of his fingers Rhys grabbed along the circular metal and pulled. It ripped free from his head with a sharp, tearing sound and he couldn't help but flinch when the small wire at the bottom disconnected with a snap.

He couldn't hear what Jack was saying, but he sounded…worried. Scared, almost.

_'Good,'_ Rhys thought vindictively. There was only one more thing to do. Slowly but surely he managed to push himself to his feet. He wanted to see Jack when he ended this.

"No Rhys," Jack begged, his hands lifting helplessly as Rhys lifted the glass to his ECHO eye. "Y-you don't know what it's like!"

Rhys grunted with pain as he carefully wedged the glass between his iris and used it as a lever to pull it out. The protective covering popped out, making him cry out, but most of the wiring was still lodged in his head.

"…HEY!" Jack's cry brought him back to reality. The dead CEO was on his knees in front of Rhys. "I'm on my knees here! P-please don't send me back there!"

Rhys ignored him, wrapping his hand around the protruding part of his eye and slowly extracting it from his head. There were a few metal rings connected to the wire, and with each one he had to pull that much harder to get them out. It was excruciating, and he was honestly surprised he hadn't passed out yet.

"It's not like how they said," Jack pleaded. "There's nothing… absolutely nothing there. Don't do this!"

Most of the wire was out now. The only remaining part was the plug that actually connected the eye to his head. One final pull, and Jack would be gone forever.

Rhys looked down at him, his vision wavering. The man looked genuinely terrified.

"M-maybe I am the problem," Rhys stuttered, and for once Jack was silent. "Maybe my plans do end up with someone being hurt. B-but I know, if I let you live now, you'll just h-hurt even more people in the end."

"No," Jack shook his head frantically, rising to his feet.

"So, I'm sorry Jack." Rhys lifted his hand with finality. "This is goodbye."

"NO!" Jack roared, throwing himself at Rhys but it was too late. He disappeared before he could even reach the taller male.

Rhys breathed roughly through the pain as he looked down at the glowing blue iris in his hand. He tightened his hold to crush it, but something made him hesitate.

Jack had looked terrified. It was the first, genuine human emotion he had ever seen from the man. What must death be like for the godlike Handsome Jack? Could he really sentence someone to an eternity of nothing? Even Handsome Jack?

He couldn't think about this now. There was too much going on, he was missing a good chunk of himself, and he was pretty damn sure that he was about to pass out. This was not the kind of state he wanted to be in when making that kind of decision. With rising doubt, he managed to tuck the small device into his pocket before his knees gave out. As the adrenaline drained from his body it was only a few seconds before his world went black.


	2. What was Lost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> August's turn! August is another one of my favorites (there's a lot), and he had some pretty great character development throughout the game. His relationship with his mom is a big focus point for this chapter. I took artistic liberty in his past since we know next to nothing about everyone's past (except characters from past games and even a lot of them are iffy) so I hope I showcased my headcannon pretty well for the most part.

August had been wandering for days. The girls had patched him up pretty nicely, and it wasn't that he wasn't grateful or anything but…

His Ma was dead. Crushed, like nothing. She hadn't even seen it coming.

When he was five Vallory had given him his first gun. It fired paint pellets instead of bullets, but it was still a sign of trust. Of love. She used to take him out back and make the other members run around while he shot at them. Sometimes she would bring out her own paintball gun, but that was when he was younger. When he turned fifteen she had replaced their toy guns with real ones and told the rest of the gang it was the new initiation right.

He would admit, she wasn't the greatest mom at the end. He honestly believed that she didn't even see him as a son after enough time of treating him like any other part of the gang. But when he was a kid, she had been perfect. She raised him by hand, all by herself, and she loved him. She used to tuck him into bed and tell him he was the greatest treasure she would ever find. He couldn't remember when exactly she had stopped saying it, but he knew those days were never coming back.

Still, memories like that stick with a person. Even if she had changed for the worse, even if she didn't love him anymore, she was still his Ma. Still the one that told stupid jokes, and taught him everything he knew, and for fuck's sake she used to pull _pranks_ with him. He loved her and he had always stupidly hoped that one day she would come back.

What a joke. You can't come back from being squashed like a fucking insect.

It was a hard pill to swallow. It didn't help that the two people taking care of him were some of the ones at fault for putting her on that damned cliff in the first place. He couldn't really blame them, it was his Ma's choice in the end, but damnit it was hard to think that way when his side was burning like hell and Sasha's hand on his head felt like _hers_ from so long ago and his fevered mind kept playing a long-lost tune he hadn't heard in years. So the minute his legs were strong enough and his brain was clear enough he got out of there.

Not his best idea.

His wound _had_ been healing nicely. Fiona was a lying bitch but she knew her way around a bullet wound. But now he was stumbling god knows where and he didn't have any extra bandages, or extra anything really. His brilliant mind hadn't even thought to grab a gun before he left the only safe place around for miles. They must've driven for a few days at least while he was out because he couldn't even see Helios in the distance or anything so he was well and truly lost.

"Shit-!" he cursed when his feet tripped over themselves and sent him tumbling through the dirt. His bullet wound throbbed, the wet feeling on his side informing him that it had ripped open. Again. It was hot too, which was never good. Probably infected. "Shit," he repeated, weaker.

He couldn't move. The sun was bearing down on his back, making the already unbearable heat even worse and his limbs felt like his Ma's beloved rocket launcher was weighing them down. There was most likely some kind of irony in that but wasn't that just like the rest of his life?

_"Pathetic,"_ he thought, spitting off to the side. Or trying to at least. It didn't make it far and it looked reddish. Blood? _"I'm gonna die like an idiot."_

He wasn't sure how long he was out after that. A few hours at least cause when he opened his eyes it was much colder and the sun was long gone. And he was moving.

Something moved beneath him and after a few seconds his brain caught up to the sound labored breathing. He wasn't entirely sure if it was his or whatever the hell was carrying him at this point.

"Oof… almost t-there… oh man… can't f-feel my legs…so heavy…huff…gotta want it…agh…"

August managed to crack his eyes open and had to close them immediately. Wherever the hell he was it was glowing. Not in that ethereal, 'am I in heaven' kind of way but that really obnoxious glow in the dark neon blue shit that left color stains on your eyelids when you finally looked away. God damn, he hadn't seen a glow like that since, uh, some time ago that his brain couldn't name at the moment.

"C-cassius… hoooly crap my lungs…gonna…pass out…"

Suddenly he was tilting sideways, the air rushing past his face. Instead of landing on the ground however, his fall was mostly cushioned by some… squishy thing.

"Noooo… this is worse… fat…crushing me…!"

"Oh my!" another voice, this one more rusty (can a voice be rusty? Is that something that happens? Damn his head hurts.) sounded somewhere off to the left. "What happened?"

Something touched his shoulders and he let out a weak growl. Just cause he was wounded and down didn't mean he couldn't kick the shit out of whatever was coming at him. Probably.

"C-careful... hurt…"

"You're hurt?! I told you, you shouldn't be exploring in your state, it will only make things-!"

August felt his body shift to the side slightly, making his wound stretch and a groan escape his lips before he could stop it.

"No, no, I-I'm not… hurt. He is!" the first voice seemed to be catching their breath now that he wasn't fully squishing them.

"…Isn't that-?

"Yeah, it is," they were quieter now. He had to strain to hear them. "Don't look at me like that, I couldn't just leave him there! Besides, he might know what happened to Sasha and Fiona."

"And if he doesn't?"

"…He would have died if I left him there. I think enough people have died, don't you?"

"He didn't seem to think so."

"Whatever," the first voice snapped angrily. There were hands on his shoulders again but August was too exhausted to care. "If you don't want to take care of him fine, just at least help me get him inside."

"Hmmm. Letting you stay seems to be bringing more trouble than I thought." There was a long silence. "Well, I can't promise anything after that but a deal is a deal. I'll help when you ask as long as you do the same."

"Thanks Cassius."

Then he was being lifted again and all the pain rushed back. He automatically swung his arm at what was causing the pain. The last sound he heard before he went back under was a pitiful shriek and an amused laugh.

-00-

He dreamt of a warm fire and a full belly.

Some of the guys were dancing like idiots, singing some old bar tune, and his mom was sitting next to him laughing. Her hair was long again and he reached out a small hand to brush through it. She looked down at him, both eyes gleaming brightly as she grinned.

Old Pete was pulling out that weird instrument he had made out of Skag skin and bones. His mom brightened even more and tugged him to his feet. Lifting him slightly she set his feet on top of hers and began to move. He grinned as she began to sing, feeling light as air.

"And when my heart beats, it beats for you," she bent down to lay a kiss on his forehead. "My little treasure, it beats for you."

-00-

"-by now? I mean, it's been a week!"

"His wound was badly infected, and who knows how long he was out there in that heat. It could still be a few more days before he shows signs of consciousness."

"But he's gonna be okay right? He's making progress, you said so yourself."

"It still confuses me how you can be so concerned about a man that tried to kill you every time you met."

"That… doesn't matter," the voice brushed the pointed curiosity aside. "What does matter is that I can't trust you to keep an eye on him while I'm gone so I _still_ can't get those parts for my… replacements. So if you're not gonna help with this why don't you help with that, huh?"

There was a slight hum of thought. "I suppose I could. But you would have to fix the computers in return."

"Alright, fine, I can do that. Piece of cake."

"And take care of Judy while I'm gone."

"…She'll eat me."

"It's a possibility."

"Ugh."

August had enough of whatever the hell was going on so he tried to push himself up to glare at whoever was disturbing him. Yet another bad idea. His side rippled in agony and what little vision he had been gaining was gone in a flash. A slip of brown made it threw but that was it.

"August?"

_"Oh, great,"_ he thought sarcastically as his senses failed him once again. _"Someone that knows me. That'll turn out great."_

-00-

The dreams after that weren't quite so nice.

"You think I'll just let this go?" she sneered, her single clear eye boring into his. "This is betrayal August, and you know what I do to traitors. You get me that damned project or you'll be the next body in the pile _son_."

The scene shifted and this time it wasn't his boss Vallory being crushed by that monster, it was his mother. Vallory was still standing, smiling over the body of his mom with wicked cruelty. Then she turned to him, lifting the rocket launcher to take care of the last link holding her back.

"Looks like I don't need you anymore," she drawled, finger tightening on the trigger. She laughed as it fired, the sound echoing in his ears.

-00-

When he woke up this time he was alone. The room was dark, but he could still make out the tiles on the ceiling. His side hurt, but not nearly as bad as before and the heat was bearable. His neck was stiff as he tilted it from side to side but it was worth it to be able to see his surroundings clearly after so long of being in the dark.

It was obviously some kind of lab, the pile of goggles and tables full of vials and other scientific crap giving it away. Besides the one he was lying in there was one other cot in the room though it didn't look like it got much use. There were no windows but there was a vent on the far wall, which was running.

August cautiously brought the hand on his uninjured side up to his face. Like his neck it was stiff from disuse but it didn't exactly hurt which was a good sign. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes he subtly shifted and twitched his body, judging what he was up for. Aches and pains, the stabbing in his side annoying but bearable, and his thoughts clearer than they had been in a long time. All in all, he was doing pretty good.

Bringing his good arm down he went through the slow process of pushing himself up.

Fuck it hurt.

Fighting through the pain he managed to anchor himself up to prop his back against the wall behind his cot. It hurt his wound but the rest of his body felt a bit better so he'd take it.

His legs didn't really feel up to walking, but August didn't really give a damn so he pushed them over the side and tried anyway.

Pride points earned for not falling over. Pride points lost for having legs that shook like a newborn's.

Not really lifting his foot, August did a sort of shuffle over to the nearest table. There were a few long metal poles lying on top of it so he grabbed one to use as a makeshift cane. It certainly helped ease the strain on his muscles, which meant he could go further. Plus, now he had a weapon. A crappy weapon, but a weapon nonetheless.

It took him longer than he will ever admit to open the door. His hand just refused to grab it tight enough to turn it. It took both of his hands and a lot of cursing just to twist the damned knob but he got the piece of crap open.

Stumbling out of the dark room his eyes immediately flew over the windows in the next room. This room was huge, and honestly kind of creepy. Wires were hanging from the ceiling (that didn't look safe) and there was stuff strewn everywhere. A few of the windows were shattered and it looked like someone had tried to cover them with flimsy thin pieces of plastic. Wherever he was it was high off the ground he realized as he moved closer to the window. And it was familiar in the worst kind of way.

"Cassius?" someone called from one of the corridors. August whipped around, almost falling over. He barely managed to catch himself and hobbled over to hide behind one of the many pillars along the edge of the room. "Is that you? I thought you'd be gone for a few more days, did something happen?"

The voice was much closer now; whoever it was would round the corner next to where he was hiding soon. Using the wall to hold himself up, August lifted the pole and prepared to strike.

"Uh, Cassius?" A head of brown hair peeked into the room, looking around suspiciously. A familiar head of brown hair.

"What the-?" August couldn't help but say as he brought the pole down.

Rhys' head turned at the sound, eyes catching a glint of silver. He let out a loud screech as the pole came flying towards his face. "Aghaaaahahaha!"

The lanky man was able to stumble back just enough that he wasn't knocked unconscious by the blow, but his right cheekbone took nearly all of the attack.

"Owowowowowowowowowowowo," he cried, kneeling down and cupping his face. August's eyes narrowed.

"You have got to be kidding me," he spat, poking the nerd while he was down. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Rhys didn't even look up, completely focused on his rapidly bruising cheek. "For the love of- why?! First the stairs, then Judy, and now this?! What is _wrong_ with today?!"

"Hey!" August snapped, clearing his voice quickly to cover up the way it cracked. "I'm talkin' to you Hyperion. The hell are you doing here?"

Rhys let a pained/irritated groan rumble in his throat as he peered up at his attacker. His eye went wide once he realized who it was.

"Holy crap!" he shot to his feet, the sudden movement making August raise the pole in defense. "You're awake! A-and moving!"

August was having second doubts about this being Hyperion asshole number one. When Rhys had entered the room it had been on his apparent good side, so he hadn't seen what the idiot really looked like. There were large slabs of bandages wrapped around the entire left side of his face. What could be seen was sickly pale and there were dark bags under his visible eye. Oh, and he was missing a _fucking arm_. There was that too.

"Yeesh, you look like shit," August pointed out.

Rhys froze mid arm wave (the hell was he moving his arms around for anyway? Looked like a god damn chicken.) to stare at him incredulously. "Uh, excuse me? Have you looked at yourself recently?"

"The fuck is your arm?" August refused to relent. He knew he looked messed up, but he wasn't missing any limbs. "Did you put it through the meat grinder with half your face?"

Rhys huffed indignantly and went to cross his arms, remembering halfway through the motion that he only had one. Aborting that choice he placed his remaining arm on his hip instead. "Seriously? I save your life and this is the thanks I get? You trying to smash my skull in and a bunch of comments on my appearance?"

"Ha!" August barked out a laugh, his throat protesting the action. "You? Save me? Yeah right! What'd you do, quote nerd facts at me until I became so annoyed my soul just floated back down to my body?"

"Screw you!" Rhys retorted, his single eye narrowed. "I carried you for miles you sack of- of muscle mass. You were bleeding out in the middle of nowhere!"

August didn't lower the pole but he made no move to attack again.

This wimpy little, one-armed cyclops had carried him all the way here? Why? He could kind of understand Sasha helping him out. They broke up on pretty bad terms, mutual distrust, and lies but they still had a _history_. He could get not killing someone you knew based on the past. Fiona wouldn't leave him to die because of Sasha, but the Hyperion duo? There was no reason. The only history they had was bad.

"What's the catch?" August asked after a long, tense silence.

Rhys shifted slightly. "What?"

August scowled, raising the pole up again. "Don't toy with me Hyperion. Why'd you help me, huh? You must want something out of this."

Rhys straightened, his expression falling blank. "…I guess I wanted something," he admitted.

"Obviously," August snorted. "So what is it? What could you possibly get out of this?"

"A few things," Rhys smirked suddenly, seeming more like the confident, arrogant employee August had met so long ago. "First of all some information. I don't know everything that happened up on Helios or after the fall. I want you to tell me what happened to Fiona and Sasha."

August thought about it. It wasn't a difficult request, especially since he only knew a little bit himself. Sasha he could explain for the most part. Fiona, well, who knows what happened with her before she showed up. He hadn't exactly been coherent when they met up again.

"And?" he urged. Information for a life was not an equal deal.

"And," Rhys gestured towards the other half of his body, "I'm kind of handicapped here. I have a… tentative alliance with Cassius for now but I can't trust him with anything bigger than retrieving supplies. I need someone that can help me out here and there until I can get a new cybernetic arm installed."

"So you want an errand boy, is that it?" August sneered.

Rhys shrugged. "Kind of. Honestly, you're getting the better half of the deal. Medical supplies, food, and a safe place to stay all for a few jobs. And once I've replaced my, well, you know," he twisted to show off the bandages, "you're free to go."

"That's it?" August felt his eyebrow rise.

"That's it," Rhys nodded.

There was obviously a bit more to it than that, August hadn't survived this long without learning a thing or two about motives. But the deal was good, and equal enough to settle most of his nerves. For now it seemed like his best choice of action. He could always change his mind later.

"Fine," he sighed, lowering the pole back to the ground so he could lean on it once more. The adrenaline that had been pumping through his veins was dying down and everything came rushing back. He was way to tired to deal with this shit.

"Fine?" Rhys seemed unsure again, his hand running through his short hair nervously. "So you… agree?"

"For now," August cautiously agreed. "As much as I hate to admit it, I probably would have died out there. I owe you at least that much, and I always pay back my debts."

"Oh. Oh good!" Rhys brightened. "Then, uh, I guess we should talk about this more later. You're looking pretty bad over there."

August growled when he moved to help him. Rhys backed up immediately. "Don't touch me. I'm fine."

Rhys pursed his lips, unconvinced. "Uh, sure. Okay then, just try to rest okay? I won't need you to do anything until Cassius gets back anyway."

"Whatever," August rubbed the bridge of his nose. Things just kept getting weirder and weirder.

"Uh, we've got fruit if you're up for it," Rhys jerked his thumb behind him towards a makeshift kitchen. "There's also some-"

The window on the other side of the room (the only window that had been completely undamaged) shattered as an ear-piercing shriek echoed across the walls. Vines shot through the glass shards, headed straight for Rhys.

"Oh crap, Judy wait!" Rhys yelped, turning to run. "I've got your food right here! Please don't eat me!"

August slumped to the floor, dumbfounded, as Rhys ran around the room in hysterics. What the hell was wrong with his life?


	3. After the Fall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is the beginnings of Vaughn the badass leader! Gotta love Vaughn, right? Hope you guys enjoy!

Vaughn ran a shaking hand through his hair, wincing as it got caught in the many knots. It was starting to get much longer, and more unmanageable.

Helios had fallen no more than a week ago and things were looking grim. He had been so far away and so very, very lost when it had happened. Ditching Vallory's goons had been the easy part. He was able to pinpoint the nearest settlement (at least, he's pretty sure it was some kind of settlement) and just took off.

He did his best not to look back. Tried not to think about how he was running and leaving his best friend in the hands of lunatics. But it would be better for all of them if he wasn't in the way as leverage. As much as he hated leaving Rhys behind, he hated the idea of Rhys getting hurt _because_ of him even more. At least this way he couldn't be used to hurt his friends.

It was still a stupid plan though.

Three hours in he had been chased by a pack of Skags and lost his glasses in the escape. He'd had to… had to _break_ one of those god-awful thing's necks with his _bare hands_ just to get away with his leg intact.

Things didn't really get better from there.

He never made it to the settlement. He found a little mini pool of water (probably not clean and full of disease, but he was going to die without it so he took the chance) where he set up a camp. Rhys had always made fun of him for reading those survival books ("What if I can't find a clean source of water Rhys?!" "Dude, we've got water fountains like, every twenty feet"), but it was definitely paying off now. Kind of. An unsteady roof of loose twigs and a really primitive looking spear (also made of twigs and a rock he just kind of smashed against a bigger rock to make it sharper) didn't make for the greatest shelter but it was better than nothing.

The first day had been spent running from those Skags, but the second day was blissfully uneventful after he found the water. He had been so exhausted that he slept for most of it, which was a really, really stupid idea but he just couldn't muster up the will to move for a while. The third day a group of Psycho's also found his little sanctuary and trashed it. He had been out trying to map out where he was, thankfully, but the idea of them coming back made him move his camp much further away from the water. That night he killed another Skag, getting a nice slash along his arm for his troubles. He… ate it.

He had been desperate. No food for days, no signs of civilization, there hadn't been much choice. He made the smallest campfire he could possibly manage, attempting to block out the light with a little barricade of twigs. After overcooking the small Skag (which smelt like burnt rubber by the way) he threw the first few bites right back up. It took him the whole night to eat at least half of the creature. He spaced the bites about ten minutes apart. Enough time for him to control his gag reflex and force his stomach to calm down.

The next day the sky caught on fire and he watched in horror as his home slammed into the ground, creating a huge dust cloud that shot out for miles. He barely remembered running until he tripped over the first piece of debris. It had taken him so long to get there; most of the dust had already cleared.

It was the most horrific thing he had ever seen.

There were innumerous… bodies. Maybe. Some of them were so burnt and melted that he couldn't actually tell all of them apart from the melted metal they were crushed under. What survivors made it in their escape pods were either running around screaming or curled up into balls and sobbing. All of them were covered in blood. Their eyes were bright with fear and they looked nothing like a typical employee would. They looked like a lot of scared people who just lost everything they had ever known.

"Rhys!" he had called for his best friend. He knew they were planning to go to Helios. There was no way the crash and their mission was a coincidence. "Rhys! Where are you!"

"V-Vaughn?" a soft voice croaked to his left. He immediately turned on his heel and rushed over to a half-destroyed escape pod.

It wasn't Rhys.

"Yvette?" Vaughn gapped once he could see through the glass. She was still strapped in, a track of dried blood going from her temple all the way down to her chin. Her glasses were cracked and her eyes were glazed over. "Oh my god, hold on! I'll get you out of there!"

The back half of the pod had been caught under a large chunk of debris twice its size. It had smashed the glass down, bending the rim and shattering a good chunk of it, but not enough that he could just pull her out without hurting her.

"Hey!" he called over towards a group of three Helios workers huddled up a few feet from him. "Hey, you three! Come here!"

They startled violently, heads snapping up to look at him. They stared at him dumbly for a long while.

Vaughn scowled at them. He didn't want to get angry with them but one of his friends was stuck and quite possibly dying and the other was missing or… worse.

"I said get over here!" he snapped. They all flinched, jumping to their feet and shuffling over. From the looks of their charred clothes it looked like the two men worked in media and the woman worked in engineering. "Look," he huffed angrily, "she's trapped in here and I can't get her out on my own." He pointed at the engineer. "I need you to see if you can unlatch the top and, if she can, I need you two to hold it up while I pull her out. Got it?"

They seemed unsure but having directions seemed to help them focus a bit more. The woman used a small slip of metal nearby to twist the front panel open, revealing a mess of wires. She worked quickly, small but deft hands tugging and reorganizing the internal systems. There was a small click and the two men stepped forward, curling their fingers around the slit between the window and the metal holding. They slowly lifted it, grunting from the effort. Being in media didn't really require much strength but they were obviously trying.

Once the space was big enough Vaughn crawled in and pulled out his makeshift spear. He used the tip to saw through the straps holding Yvette in the chair. Her eyes were open, barely, and her head was lolling to the side a bit.

"Yvette," he reached out and tapped her cheek lightly. Her eyes rolled to look at him dazedly. "Hey, so I'm gonna lift you out okay? I need you to tell me if it hurts too much alright? I'm not sure how badly you're hurt."

She stared at him for a long, worrying second before nodding slowly. Tossing the spear back outside the pod he carefully slid one arm behind her shoulders, using his hand to hold the back of her head, while the other wrapped around the middle of her back to pull her forward enough so that she was leaning on his chest. Tensing his muscles he slowly began to pull back. The men were obviously straining to hold on, but thankfully the moment Yvette was halfway out the window the engineering woman was reaching out to grab Yvette's legs and carefully lift them out as well. Once the three were clear the men let go with a heavy exhale, one leaning on the wreckage and the other slumping to sit down.

Vaughn rested Yvette on the ground, propping up his knee and resting her back on it. She seemed a bit more awake now, but also in more pain.

"There you go," Vaughn breathed, brushing back her hair to see where the blood trail had started. There was a scrape just above her hairline but it wasn't bleeding anymore, so he took it as a good sign. "Where else are you hurt?"

"Ugh," she moaned, hands tightening at her sides. "M-my head hurts. Pret-tty bad. My a-ankle and… s-shoulder."

Vaughn bit his lip. "Anywhere else?"

She twitched one hand up uncertainly. "C-can't te-tell."

"Okay, it's going to be okay," he assured. "I don't really know how to help you as much as you need it, but I'm sure there's a doctor nearby. I'm going to go find one, alright? Will you be okay?"

Her eyes were squeezed shut in pain now, but she managed a slight nod. Vaughn wasn't too sure about that, but she really needed a doctor more than him right now. When he looked up the three that had helped him were hovering back a bit, shifting nervously.

"Uh, hey, I know we don't really know each other, but can one of you stay with her while I find a doctor?"

The woman immediately nodded, kneeling down to pull Yvette over to her arms instead. She rested Yvette's head and upper back against her legs for support.

"I-I'll make sure it doesn't get worse," she coughed out, her voice sounding like it was covered in soot.

"Thanks," Vaughn offered a small, but grateful smile. He didn't know or trust these people, but options were limited.

"What about us?" one of the men asked suddenly. "What should we do?"

Vaughn blinked at them. "What? Uh, I don't- um." He paused. "You could always, I don't know, look for more people that need help? Find anyone else that needs medical attention?"

"Got it," the other guy nodded, the two rushing off immediately.

Vaughn shook his head. That was a little weird but whatever. He had a job to do.

"Hey!" he shouted, running through the wreckage as quickly as he could without accidentally impaling himself on anything. "Hey! Is there a doctor around here?! Is anyone here a doctor?!"

…It took a long time.

More often then not he would run into media people again (their escape pods would have landed close together, being shot out from the same department, but damn it they weren't useful at all!) or a handful of janitors and service workers. He hadn't really been in the mood, or had the time, to make sure all of them okay so he would just kind of… yell at whoever looked the healthiest to help find anyone that was injured and take them over to where Yvette was.

It was finally after about thirty minutes of searching that he found where the medical pods had landed.

Half of them had been crushed by one of the outer walls of Helios.

All the blood drained out of his face, the warm sweat that had been beading his forehead turning a sudden icy cold.

Yvette needed help.

Shaking his head and resolutely averting his eyes he marched towards the pods that remained relatively unharmed. A few men and women were out on the ground already, looking just as dazed, confused, and panicked as all the others but a handful of the pods still had their lids closed.

"Hey!" he barked, putting more force into his words than he meant to. They all flinched, heads whipping around to stare at him. "You guys are doctors, right?"

Some nodded, others shaking their heads. Vaughn could tell from their scrubs that they were part of the support staff.

"There's a lot of people back that way that need your help," he threw his arm back to motion towards the direction he had come from. "I know you all just went through a lot but so have they. They just don't have the knowledge you guys do to save themselves."

All he got were blank-eyed stares, like they were all stuck in some crazy dream and they'd wake up any second now.

"Damn it," Vaughn almost choked on the frustration, stress, and _fear_ filling up his lungs. Pinching the bridge of his nose he took a deep breath to steady himself. "Okay, first things first. Are any of you so injured you can't move?"

Two hands went up. A tall man with black hair had his back pressed against what might have been a vending machine once with his shirt torn raggedly at the bottom in order to create the makeshift bandage around his left thigh and a shorter, brown-haired woman with-

Jesus fucking _Christ_ , was that her _bone_ sticking out of her arm?!

"Oh shit, that looks bad!" he yelped, definitely not helping matters in the slightest. "How do we- can we even fix that?!"

Another woman, this one blond, moved closer.

"W-we have to reset the bone," her voice quivered, soot making her face look dark and grey. "But… we don't have anything with us to clean it, or bind it, or anything!"

Vaughn shuddered, heart aching in sympathy as the injured woman closed her eyes and bit her lip to help manage what must have been unbearable pain.

"There's got to be something around here," he folded his arms across his chest, looking out over the wreckage. "We should look around, try to scavenge as much as we can."

"Why?" one of the men, the one with a long, stretchy kind of face huffed bitterly.

Vaughn felt his patience snap.

"Because if you don't we're all going to die!" he yelled, feet moving on their own. Before he could even process what he was doing the idiot that had spoke was being held in front of him by the collar of his shirt. "Hyperion is gone and we're in the middle of a fucking wasteland, okay?! We either help each other for as long as we possibly can or the crazy psychos on this planet pick us off like Skags! You can either sit here and whine and complain about how this crap is unfair or you can get off your ass, help the people around you survive, and pray to God that they'll return the favor when you need cause I can guarantee that if you do nothing to help them now then no one will do anything when you get dragged away to get eaten by the weird ass creatures in this place!"

He dropped the moron, hands physically shaking with rage. Turning his burning glare on the rest of the dipshits that were surrounding him he did the one thing he always sucked at.

He took charge.

"You five," he barked, pointing at the people closest to him that looked like they wouldn't fall over just from walking around, "get up and start looking around for anything we can use as medical supplies. You four start looking for other survivors and you three head back that way until you come across a large group of people. We'll bring the supplies to you but do whatever you can for the people there until we do, got it?"

The dumb, doe-eyed stares were back.

"Got it?!" he roared.

"Y-yes!" the scrambled to their feet, rushing to do as he'd said. Even the asshole with the long face was moving.

Vaughn breathed sharply through his nose, nodding his head in a pleased manned, before he approached the two injured ones. They stared at him with wide, scared eyes.

"Ah geez," he rubbed the back of his neck, anger slowly fading away to leave bone-deepep exhaustion in its wake. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you guys. How are you both holding up?"

"I-I'm fine," the man stuttered, hands clasped tightly around the remains of his shirt. "The wound isn't very deep, it's just making it hard to stand on."

"Okay," Vaughn nodded, thinking it over. "We'll see about getting you a crutch or something to help with that. What about you? Is there anything I can do for, uh, _that_?"

The girl sent him a weak, wavering smile that he appreciated more than he thinks she realizes. "Not really, but I appreciate the thought. I-It's nice to see someone that cares."

Vaughn huffed a bitter laugh. "Yeah, well, if we all want to get out of here a live I think we're all going to need a little kindness to make it through."

Kindness was like a disease on Hyperion. It killed you, slowly but surely, until you were just a husk of your former self. You'd have to be something really special to survive up there and somehow manage to keep your heart while you did so.

…

Gods he whished Rhys were here.

"I'm gonna take a look around," Vaughn shook his head violently to clear his head. "Will you two be okay while I check things out?"

They both nodded, settling in to wait for the others to return.

Vaughn turned his attention to the remaining, unopened pods. He really, really hoped there were living people in those things.

"You've got this Vaughn," he whispered under his breath, a voice in the back of his head that sounded just like Rhys echoing the words back to him. "You've got this."

Time to get to work

-00-

"Can you hold this down for me?" Rhys questioned hesitantly, gesturing towards the metal plate on the table in front of him.

August rolled his eyes but leaned over to press the plate down firmly. While he held it Rhys hunched over with a screwdriver and began twisting in the screws on both sides.

"Perfect!" Rhys grinned once he was done. "It's almost finished."

August looked over the robotic arm the nerd had been working on for the past few days. "…looks like shit."

Rhys gave him a side-eyed glare. "It's just a prototype, okay? Something to give me at least a basic range of motion. There isn't much I can do with out all ten fingers."

"Still looks like shit," August yawned, leaning back in his chair. His wound was healing alright, only hurting when he twisted the wrong way, but he was still feeling exhausted all the time. It was annoying.

Rhys grumbled under his breath angrily. August was able to pick a few tail remarks, but it was mostly gibberish. "…looks that way now…ass….the _final_ arm…totally badass…"

The scrawnier male was perched at the end of his chair, face practically touching the metal contraption. August's eyes landed on the wheel at the bottom of Rhys' chair and his lips twitched up into a smirk.

"Hold down this one too- ack!"

Rhys felt something knock into his chair, causing it to roll violently to the side. Since he was not sitting on it fully he fell off right away, landing in an awkward heap by the table.

August's loud laugh grated on his ears as he levered himself up on his arm.

"Careful there Hyperion," the large man laughed, "wouldn't want to loose anything else!"

"Screw you," Rhys scowled, rising to his feet and brushing off his clothes. Oh how he wished he had a better assistant. One that wasn't constantly insulting him or messing with him. August was the absolute worst choice in helpers there could possibly be.

"Ah, so I've already been replaced. Should've known."

Rhys jolted, twirling around to see Cassius standing in the doorway with a large backpack slung over his shoulders.

"Cassius!" he cheered, throwing his arm up in joy. "Thank goodness you're back! I really think Judy was going to eat me today, she's been getting really moody while you've been gone."

Cassius had been blank faced when he had first made himself known but the genuine happiness Rhys seemed to feel at him being back made his lips twitch.

"She'd only eat you if you did a bad job of taking care of her, I left you very specific instructions," he pointed out.

Rhys scratched the back of his head with a nervous chuckle. "Yeah, I… might have lost that little book you gave me."

Cassius sighed heavily through his nose, fully stepping into the room and setting the backpack down.

"I'm sure I have a spare around here somewhere, you'll just have to make do without it until it turns up. I brought the things you asked for," Cassius stretched his aching back, dutifully ignoring the hulking behemoth watching them from the corner. That was Rhys' problem, not his.

"Awesome!" Rhys lunged forward, happily digging through the trinkets Cassius had managed to salvage from mechanical structures throughout the forest. "Thanks Cassius."

"Don't forget to fix those computers," the old man reminded him. I'll give you a few days to get that weird arm back in shape and then I want them back on and functional."

"Yeah, of course," Rhys called back distractedly, checking over a handful of wires that had been stuffed in one of the pockets. "Functional and everything, piece of cake."

Cassius yawned wide enough for his jaw to crack. "Well then, I'm going to go check in on Judy and go to sleep. Don't wake me up with all of your clanging around!"

Rhys waved away his worries, not bothering to respond.

Cassius sent a wayward glance to the bandit, meeting his eyes.

August scowled at him and Cassius scowled right back but the blond didn't seem like he was going to attack anytime soon so Cassius let it go. He would sleep in one of the little safe rooms around the place until August left, just to be sure. Perhaps, if Rhys did manage to fix those computers, he would show the young man where a few of them were in case the need ever arose.

Against his better judgment he was beginning to like the hyperactive brunette. It was nice to have some company (that wasn't trying to kill or steal from him) after all of these years alone.

"Stop poking me with that!" Rhys shout echoed down the hall as Cassius walked away.

"Stop getting in the way then."

"You literally had to stretch your arm all the way out and _lean_ over to hit me, how was _I_ in the way?"

"Don't be a dumbass. See? You're still in the way."

"Stop hitting me!"

Ah, now if only the company could have been more pleasant. That would have really been nice.


End file.
